The Liga holders fell behind twice at the Santiago Bernabeu, but late goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo eventually helped them to all three points, much to the delight of the former Tottenham midfielder.

"Everything is great here and I am enjoying every moment. I came here to play in games like this. This was almost like a final – City were great opponents," Modric was quoted as saying on the Uefa website.

"We started the season slowly but the atmosphere within the group was always great and it's going to get even better after tonight.

"Afterwards our coach said this was the Real Madrid that he knew. When you go out and play like that you can lose sometimes but tonight we won.

"I hope this game will lift us and we can start playing better and better as the season goes on."

Madrid resume league action on Sunday when they lock horns with Rayo Vallecano.